A father has issued a warning to motorists after forking out £396 on his daughter’s parking fines.

Karen Fey was given the fines while she was house-sitting for her sister in Kingfisher Meadow, Maidstone.

She was correctly parking in the right space but had forgotten to display the resident’s parking permit.

"People convicted of relatively serious crimes are fined less than this."David Fey, Larkfield

Kent Parking Services has now said it will pass the matter back through its appeals process but insisted that the fine was valid because no permit was displayed in the car.

Miss Fey's father, David Fey, said: “There is no doubt that my daughter broke the rules. However, a fine of £396 does seem rather extreme for what, in effect, was a technicality.

“After all, she was parked in the correct space so it was simply the absence of one small document that proved so expensive. People convicted of relatively serious crimes are fined less than this.”

Having parked in her sister’s place, Miss Fey did not return to her car for three days because she was able to walk into town for her job at a recruitment agency.

She did not realise she was collecting an £85 penalty each day, only noticing when her car was clamped.

She then additionally had to pay £141 to have the clamp removed.

Mr Fey, of Oak Drive, Larkfield, said: “The Kent Parking Services representative in attendance demanded that the parking tickets be settled in cash before he would allow the clamp to be removed.

“He would not give my daughter a receipt for the money and added that if she did not pay there and then, the vehicle would be towed away. We had to rush around to get the £255 in cash.

“He then instructed the clamping firm, a separate company, to remove the clamp.”

Without much hope, Miss Fey appealled to Kent Parking Services in line with its published appeals process.

She also asked for a receipt for the money she had paid. There has been no response from the firm, even after the family repeated the process, sending a letter by recorded delivery.

Mr Fey said: “It seems rather strange in this day and age that any company can demand cash payments without issuing receipts, if only to support their own tax and VAT returns.

“And then they don’t even respond to an appeal.”

Kent Parking Services offers a free service to land-owners, making its money from the fines it collects.

Mark Williams, operations manager for Kent Parking Services, said: "The young lady had parked for 6 days without a valid permit to park displayed - photographs were taken showing that no permit was displayed.

"A tow truck had been called and attended to remove the vehicle, it was only at this point did she appear to deal with the matter, the young lady was not changed the tow truck fee nor was she charged the other two parking tickets due on the vehicle.

"Secondly, many of the properties on site do not have parking with their tenancy agreements, therefore have no permission to park on site at all - this is the reason that a permit system is in place and must be displayed.

"It is a term and condition of parking, that a permit is clearly displayed at all times.

"the lady was issued a receipt by the parking attendant at the time. This can be confirmed by the CCTV on site."

He added: "Thirdly, Mr Fey spoke on a number of occasions to the appeals manager and was advised that she had no grounds for appeal and therefore the appeal had been refused.

"The young lady parked without displaying a permit and choose to ignore the signs, i understand that she was flat-sitting however each tenant is given 2 permits and it is there responsibilty to ensure that there are displayed when on site."